|
|
| ELECTRONICS
INDUSTRY |
|
H Chandalia, Secretary,
South India Radio and Electronic Trade Association, on the
electronic industry in Tamil Nadu.
 Tamil
Nadu is a very big market as far as electronics is concerned.
But Tamil Nadu is only big as far as the trade is concerned. In the
sense that while the market is big and there is a lot of demand, there
are not many manufacturing facilities here. This has been the case
for nearly a decade now in Tamil Nadu. Even after other industries
like the automotive and software industries have attracted investments,
electronics, as far as manufacturing is concerned, has not attracted
any major investment at all. This should not be perceived as a drawback,
but entrepreneurs and investors should see this as an opportunity
to be exploited. I would only say that the electronics industry would
grow in a major way, if it were to be encouraged by the government
department handling electronics. But, I perceive that they are ill-equipped
to handle such a task. I am not speaking about Chennai alone. This
is the case for the whole of Tamil Nadu.
 If
one were to compare Tamil Nadu with its neighbouring states, we see
that it stands nowhere in terms of electronics. Kerala has developed
well; you see that electronics majors like BPL, Keltron all
have their base in Kerala. BPL, which is such a big
name when it comes to electronic home appliances, has its main base
in Palghat, Kerala. When one analyses these factors what is to be
observed is that the conditions existing in Kerala and other states
are investor-friendly. The government there has adopted a friendly
attitude to the industry and there are a lot of sops for the industry
there.
But again, one should not see the negative, but the positive side.
If it is not there, then the vacuum is waiting to be filled. This
makes for a high-potential market. Only, somebody has to take the
lead. The liberalisation policy has not affected the traders positively
or negatively. But liberalisation has made the customer king. From
an ordinary transistor radio to the most sophisticated computer, there
are now so many choices for the customer.
 Tamil
Nadu's strength is the excellent engineering institutions, which are
bringing out quality engineers every year. Most of them show an aptitude
for electronics, but their interest and ambitions are squashed because
there are not many quality jobs around which can make use of their
education and talent.
Author : Joseph Pradeep Raj R
Photographs : V Ganesan |
|
|
|
|  |
|
|
